FCC Calls On Phone Companies To Offer Free Robocall Blocking (fastcompany.com)

The FCC chairman on Friday pressed major U.S. phone companies to take immediate steps to develop technology that blocks unwanted automated calls available to consumers at no charge. Chairman Tom Wheeler, in letters to CEOs of Verizon Communications, AT&T, Sprint, US Cellular, Level 3 Communications, Frontier Communications, Bandwidth.com, and T-Mobile, said that so-called robocalls, automated pre-recorded telephone calls often from telemarketers or scam artists continue because the industry isn't taking any action. Wheeler demands answers with "concrete, actionable solutions to address these issues" within 30 days. A report on FastCompany adds: Wheeler also urged carriers to create a list of institutions like government agencies and banks that are commonly impersonated by scammers and filter out overseas callers impersonating them through falsified caller ID data

Comments

I'm sure they will fully comply

[Anonymous Coward]

They will offer free robocall blocking and the sudden and completely unrelated rate hike will be completely unrelated.

they need to work the other end

[laurencetux]

if legit companies were required to prove that their contractors followed ALL laws (with epic fines for violations) then these boiler room companies would go "POOF".

Re: they need to work the other end

[BarbaraHudson]

Won't do any good until they also ban number spoofing and throttle the number of calls per hour from any one overseas source. Ditto for VoIP packets. Let them post a bond for more access, and if there are too many complaints, the complainers get the money. Too many complaints coming from a single carrier - block all calls from that carrier's network. Gives them motivation to not just sell the $-%%)#@ boiler rooms another block of numbers to call from.

While you're at it...

[SvnLyrBrto]

Put some teeth into the do-not-call list:

Upgrade callerID to use ANI or some other tech to prevent it from being spoofed or blocked; so we can find the bastards. Remove the exemption for charity and political fundraisers and pollsters. Remove the "existing relationship" loophole so that when you add your number the calls STOP unless you explicitly exempt them (And that exemption should be revocable.). Remove the 31-day wait when a number is added (Seriously, WTF? I'm not buying a gun here. I don't need a cooling-off period.) And crank up the penalties for violations such that it will hurt even a SuperPAC... maybe add in some criminal penalties too.

Priorities (KAT)

[Anonymous Coward]

They'll spend months and hundreds of thousands of dollars to nab a guy halfway around the world for sharing music, but won't lift a fucking finger to hunt down real, actual scammers causing real, actual harm.